Dimension E - Enacted Culture
Enacted Culture
What people do when no one's written a rule for it
Every organisation has two cultures. The stated one - values on the wall, principles in the handbook, the story told to new starters. And the enacted one - what actually happens when decisions are made, when pressure builds, when nobody senior is watching. The distance between the two is one of the most revealing things about an organisation.
If a new starter spent their first week just watching what happens - never reading a single document - what would they conclude this organisation actually values?
Go deeper
What it means
Understanding Enacted Culture - the distance between the stated culture and the enacted one is one of the most revealing things about any organisation. Culture always tells the truth.
Recognising patterns
What gets someone promoted here - and is that the same thing the values statement would predict? Observation prompts for seeing what your culture actually enacts.
The wider effect
What tends to shift when an organisation closes the gap between stated and experienced culture. How enacted culture creates movement across the system.
Cultivating conditions
You cannot design culture from the top. It is an emergent property. But certain patterns keep showing up in organisations where values are lived rather than displayed.
Explore it yourself
Practical starting points for exploring enacted culture - individually, in a one-to-one, or with a team.